


Nightingale Circus

by MarionettePuppet



Series: ML SALT [3]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alya Salt, F/F, Gen, Lila Rossi Bashing, Lila is a bitch, Lila salt, class salt, the class are a bunch of sheep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-20
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2020-10-24 15:21:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 8,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20708201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarionettePuppet/pseuds/MarionettePuppet
Summary: Marinette used to spend every summer working with her Uncle at the circus, now the same circus has come to Paris.Lila is telling lies about a certain performer and with the class going on a special trip to the same circus, this could be the end of Lila's reign of lies in the school.





	1. Don't you lie about who you are Lila

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by an idea for an AU that I came up with on Tumblr, https://tmblr.co/Ze2NTW2kw22yL

Nightingale Circus was one of the most famous Circuses in Europe, and it was coming to Paris. It had everything from live animals doing complex tricks to fire eaters. Marinette was most excited because she got to see her family again, sure her uncle one from her blood family to be in the circus as a strong man but everyone else in that circus was family to here since every summer she is with the circus while it tours, she also started performing with them when she was eight as the trapeze artist known as Blue Bird with her partner Red Sparrow, Coraline (who was also her ex-girlfriend). The pair were well known in the circus community as their stage names but never by the real names as both of the girls didn’t want to be harassed by fans when they weren’t with the circus.

That brings us to now, as the rest of the class were crowding around Lila like a bunch of sheep hanging off her every word. “Yeah, normally I perform as Blue Bird but my mother thought it would be best if I go with my friends to watch the show since she’s always worried about me being up there, so they put in a replacement” stated Lila with a sad smile, “aww noo, that’s too bad” replied Rose, “yeah but at least I got to train my replacement”.

As soon as she heard that, she snapped her pen in two, it was one thing to lie about knowing celebrates but another to claim that their accomplishments were their own. She was about to retort when Adrien put his hand on her shoulder as a way to stop her, “there’s no point, they won’t believe us, if anything, maybe a member of the circus will point out her lie”. After Marinette almost got kicked out of school because of Lila, he said he was tired of taking the high road as that was crossing a line but when he also tried to point out her lies, the class believe that Marinette had somehow convince him to say that Lila was a liar, so to them he was a lost cause as he was too fair under Marinette thumb to say otherwise. 

That was a year ago and by that point, Adrien and her had lost their original friends but Chloe still stuck to Adrien like glue and started to treat Marinette more kindly as she also didn’t like Lila and she was in the bathroom when Lila made her threat to Marinette and to her threating some like that was worse than what she had done because the most she had done had ruined Marinette’s week but Marinette had friends with her during that time and now she didn’t. Kagami was also part of the group as when she met Lila, Lila tried to lie by saying her grandfather was one of the world champions when in fact, he had never existed and it was Kagami’s grandfather who held that title. Luka also hanged out with the group much to the dismay of his sister and Kitty Section, he was not fond of lies and could tell straight away that she was a lier. 

The bell rang and as the class began to leave, Miss Bustier was quick to remind everyone of the trip tomorrow. “Rember to be here at nine o’clock sharp so we are able to be their early and that means you as well Marinette”, most of the class snickered at the comment, “actually I’ve already talked to Mr Damocles about not being on the trip as something important with my family has come up” Marinette replied giving her a sweet smile as she, Chloe and Adrien walk out quickly. “Why aren't you going to be there Mari?” asked Alya who quickly chased after her with both Lila and Nino behind her, “first of only my friends call me Mari and it’s a family matter which is private meaning I can’t tell people about it” Marinette replied her face void of emotion, “Mari we are friend though” respond Alya, “we haven’t been friend since you believed that lier over me and considering we haven’t hung out in the past few months along with you not calling or text me unless it’s you telling me to stop being jealous which might I add, I’m most definitely not”, “but-” started Alya but was quickly cut off by Chloe, “she said you weren’t friends so leave us alone, there is nothing for you to put on your gossip blog here” stated Chloe as pulled both Marinette and Adrien away from the school.

“So, mind telling us why you aren’t going?” Adrien asked while they heard Alya anger shouts from the school with both Nino and Lila trying and failing to calm her down, “oh you will see me there tomorrow I just can’t tell you why” Marinette responded, “fine” responded Chloe as she spotted both Luka and Kagami both waiting at the park for them.


	2. Meeting Old Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tiki gets and explanation.   
Marinette greets her old family and schemes with her old girlfriend.

The rest of the day had been spent in the park, hanging out while eating pastries from Marinette’s family bakery. It was only after patrol did Marinette start getting ready for tomorrow, “I thought you weren’t going on the trip Marinette” said Tiki, “that may be true but I’m going to the circus for a different reason” responded Marinette as she grabbed the costume that she had been working on all week of the mannequin and put it in the special bag so that it wouldn’t be damaged.

“Which is?” asked Tiki, “well I have to practice for the performance tomorrow night” stated Marinette as she zipped up the sports bag and got ready for bed, “performance?” said Tiki in a confused tone, “I have an uncle who works as a strongman in the circus so before ladybug I used to tour with the circus as Blue Bird, you know the one Lila was lying about being in before the end of class” responded Marinette smiling, “how have you never told me this before, I thought you train at the gymnastics hall for being better at LadyBug?” replied Tiki, “that is true but yes I do go their in order to keep up with being able to tricks on the Trapeze, sorry that I never told you Tiki” said Marinette looking guilty.

“We are all entitled to our own secrets Marinette, although it’s nice to know the reason behind how you got used to the yo-yo so quickly” replied Tiki giggling softly towards the end, “Now you better get some sleep so you not late”.  
“You better listen to Tiki, just because you had patrol doesn’t mean you should catch some sleep,” said Marinette’s mother from the trapdoor, “yes mother” replied Marinette as she settled into bed for the night.

By some miracle, Marinette was able to get up on time for once due to Tiki shouting her ear and her mother pouring a cold cup of water onto her face. Since she had packed her gear yesterday night, all she had to do was get dressed and make sure she had her phone along with some earphones. She got dressed quickly, wearing a plain top, blue hoodie, black leggings and blue trainer, she didn’t bother to do anything with her hair except brush it as it was easier to sort it out at the circus grounds. 

It took about twenty minutes to get there and it that time, she worked on a few designs along with listening to Jagged Stone’s newest album. As soon as she got out of her parent's car she was bombarded by Charles, Coraline’s little brother (who was training to be a tightrope performer) who pulled her into a bone-crushing hug.   
“Mari, I’ve missed you so much” he yelled, thank kwami Marinette had her earphones in otherwise she would have probably lost her hearing.  
“I’ve missed you too, petit oiseau” replied Marinette pulling him away from her in order for her to breathe.  
“Marinette, it’s good to see you again,” said Coraline, picking up her little brother by his collar in order for Marinette to have a bit of space.  
“Same to you Cora” Marinette replied as she grabbed her bag from the trunk of her parent's car.   
“See you after the performance, sweetheart,” Marinette’s father said before giving her a kiss on the cheek and driving back home. 

“Right, well you’ll be sharing my trailer again, so let’s go put your things in there” announced Coraline as her brother ran off as his mother was calling his name from inside the circus tent. The plot of land that the Circus had hired was quite large so the was enough room for everyone to practice their parts, as both girls headed to the trailer, multiple times Marinette was stopped by the other performers saying hello or giving her quick hugs. As soon as the got inside the trailer and Coraline shut the door, the integration started.   
“Ok what’s being going on in that damn school of your” Coraline questioned bluntily as Marinette put her bags on the spare bunk.   
“Nothing has been going on” replied Marinette sharply, avoiding Coraline’s eyes,  
“Clearly, something has since I know you better, you look more drained than the time we had to do three performances a day for two weeks” retorted Coraline, sighing Marinette fell back on her bed stair at the paint that was peeling off the trailer’s ceiling.

“Fine, you got me, there is something going on at school,” said Marinette in defeat knowing Coraline wouldn’t drop it if she didn’t tell her.   
“Worst than hawkmoth finding out you ladybug or just normal teenage drama” questioned Coraline, making Marinette quickly sit up in shock. She opened her mouth to respond but Coraline put her hand up to stop her,  
“I’ve been performing with you since we were eight and dated you for three years, you really didn’t think I would have figured it out, along with everyone else at the circus, now get on with the story”.  
“It’s this girl, Lila, at first she was a new girl who stole one of Adrien’s book but also claimed to be a superhero which I called her out on due to me being jealous but then when she came back, started telling all these tales out how she saved uncle Jagged kitten which might I add, he has never owned one, she claimed he wrote a song about her, she also claimed Prince Ali knew her from her helping out with his charities along with knowing several famous directors and actors,” Marinette took a chance to breathe while Coraline went over the stories in her head in order for it to sink in.  
“Then she tried to get me to kick out of school by claimed I stole the answer sheet’s to a test along with stealing a necklace of her and pushing her down the stairs, she sucessed in getting me kicked out until Adrien made a deal with her in order for her to get me back into school, after all, that she still claims to have several disabilities and that I have been bullying her, the only friends I have now are Luka, Chloe, Kagami and Adrien” and with that Marinette laying back down on her bed with her face in her hands.  
“the guitar boy, your old bully, the famous fencer and the crush,” said Coraline quietly with Marinette nodding her head in response,   
“Anything else?” questioned Coraline to which made Tiki fly out of Marinette's hair and in front of Coraline’s face.

“The Lila claimed to be Blue Bird and because the reason she wasn’t performing is that her mother wanted her to be with the class so she got to train the replacement instead,” Tiki said quickly, to which Coraline responded “well then we just got to prove her wrong”, not even fazed by the flying Kwami.   
“How do we do that?” asked Marinette, her voice muffled,  
“Easy” stated Coraline.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> petit oiseau - little bird (french)
> 
> Ok, thank you for all the support on the last chapter, I honestly wasn't expecting that.  
But I do have to get on thing straight as I ment in the chapter one comments, I don't know all the settings on this website so I had no idea how to change it from, 1/1 to 1/?, but I think I got it now.   
Again thank you for all the support.


	3. Author's Note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not Dead But Sleep-Deprived As Hell.

Right, so thank you for all the feedback, I honestly wasn't expecting so many people to enjoy this.  
As for the next chapter, I am working on it but I have a habit where I get a lot of writer's block so it may take a while. 

Here are answers to some questions that people have asked that:  
\- I'm not doing a hero identity reveal since I'm going off with the idea that both Adrien and Marinette know along with Luka, Kagami and Chloe (this is also why in the second chapter, Marinette's mother told her to go to bed after petrol since I like the idea that both Marinette's know about it and try to relieve stress of being a hero from Marinette). Adrien and Marinette, decide it would be better to know each other as friends instead of putting each other pedestal before they start to date.

\- Marinette and Coraline broke up due to only seeing each other during the summer and since they were so young, it was better for them to not deal with a romantic relationship and instead focus on school and growing up first before having a romantic relationship. They both broke up on friendly terms and that's why they still perform together as a pair.

Hope this answer your questions about the story so far and I'll hopefully get the chapter out by the end of the weekend but I can't promise I will since I got collage work to focus on as well.


	4. Welcome to the Circus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the circus and your teacher's for the day are Red Sparrow and Blue Bird

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> boom got another chapter done

It wasn’t even nine o’clock before Lila started lying and of course like always, the class were acting like sheep, hanging off every word except for Chloe who was already on the bus not wanting to deal with the class and Adrien who had Lila hanging off his arm. “Yeah, the circus didn’t want people to know that they know me in case someone let it slip that I was Blue Bird, so they will pretend they don’t know me, especially my replacement” Lila said as she walked onto the bus and sat down, luckily not next to Adrien since he was able to get her grip off him before she sat down.

“She’s going to be like this for the whole bus ride isn’t she?” groaned Chloe while Adrien looked at his phone.  
“Most likely” replied Adrien as he went to go check his messages and saw he had one from Marinette,  
“Marinette already there,” he said as he went to put in his earphones to listen to his lessons, Chloe just hummed a reply as she also put her earphones in.

It was a long bus ride especially with Lila no stop lies but eventually they arrived, both Chloe and Adrien got off the bus as soon as possible to make sure Lila couldn’t attach themselves to Adrien. “Welcome, children to the Nightingale Circus,” said a tall old man dressed in t-shirt and jeans, “my name is Henry Rivers the co-owner and ringmaster at this circus”.  
“Hello Mr Rivers,” said everyone in unison except for Lila who just looked nervous,  
“I hope you have all brought some appropriate to wear as we will be letting you on the trapeze and if you have not we have spare clothes if needed” he continued which made everyone nod, “excellent let’s get on with the tour shall we”.

The circus ground was quite large, it took about an hour to get around it all. It already had plenty of people practising, most of them greeted the class with smiles and cheerful hellos but some didn’t say anything but glare.  
“I don’t get why some of them are glaring at us,” asked Rose in a quiet tone as Henry led them to the big top after having them change into suitable clothing,  
“Some of them have always been jealous of my talent” replied Lila as she started to cry,  
“They’re all just jealous assholes Lila don’t listen to them” growled Alya glaring back at them.   
Henry had seemed to have heard that comment as he seemed to start talking to Miss Bustier quite harshly. “You know since you were invited as guests especially, I would expect you would at least have the decency to not insult us” stated a cold voice as the class turned around they saw a tall girl with long black hair tied in a ponytail as was dressed in black leggings and a white vest along with a black mask that had red accents around the side.   
“They were insulting us first” retorted Alix,   
“As I recall no of them said a word to you, the most they did was glare which is understandable since they are not morning people but I would say they were in the right since you insulted them” she replied in an ice-cold tone.  
“Who do you think you are?” asked Alya as if it was only obvious to Adrien and Chloe who she was,   
“The name is Red Sparrow and I would appreciate it if you didn’t speak to me like that since I am the one who will be giving you the trapeze lesson” the newly dubbed ‘red sparrow’ as she walked with them into the main tent.

The place was huge, many of the class were either taking photos or just staring except for ‘close’ friends of Lila who was questioning Lila. “Why was she being so mean, shouldn’t she have been nice expertly since you guys are partners?” asked Rose,  
“Sparrow, always been cold and she made sure to treat me like a member of the public if I not with the circus so that me being Blue Bird doesn’t get out to the news.   
“That makes sense but still she didn’t have to be that cold” grumble Alya,  
“I know, I know, I’ll have a word with her when I can” replyed Lila with a small ‘smile’.

“Now then, I’m sure you’re all excited for this lesson and the people who will be teaching you are Red Sparrow who you have already met and Blue Bird who should be coming soon” Stated Henry using his ringmaster’s voice,   
“I’m here Boss so no need to wait,” said a voice as a girl ran into the tent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this is out late, I've had writer block and was on a college trip yesterday.


	5. Hey There Sunshine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien has a go at the trapeze and shares a few words with Blue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well, would you look at that I finally upload another chapter

The girl walked into the tent was dressed in something similar to Sparrow expect her mask had blue accents on her mask and her hair was in a low plaited bun. She walked over to stand by Sparrow. Most of the class felt like they knew her from somewhere but couldn’t figure out why while Lila had gone white. 

“Well, then since you two are both her, I will take my leave,” said Henry bowing, “I must inform you that this session will be recorded in order for us to use as proof in court if someone were to try and claim that we did not take people’s safety into account as that has happened before to us”,  
“That is understandable,” said Miss Bustier, “I notice that it was on the letter”, with a nod and a bow, Henry left in a puff of smoke scaring a few people. 

“Now that he’s gone, let’s get on with the show shall we” Stated Blue Bird with a smile, bowing as she spoke. “Before we start teaching you tricks, Blue is going to show you how to swing while I help people onto the platform and attach a harness” explained Sparrow as Blue was already halfway up the tower. As soon as she said that the majority of the class got extremely excited except for Lila who was internally panicking. Most people stomachs dropped when Blue jumped from the tower but cheered when she swung perfectly to the other tower and landed safely. 

“Alright who wants to start?” asked Red clapping her hands together, most people looked at Lila, “come on Lila don’t you want to show us your skills?” said Chloe sweetly while Adrien was snickering behind her,  
“If she doesn’t want to go first then she doesn’t have to Chloe” snapped Alya,   
“Not my fault for thinking that she would like to go first since she has been talking about how skilled she is on a trapeze” replied Chloe picking at her nails with an unimpressed look,   
“Than is enough Chloe” stated Mrs Bustier “now who wants to actually go first?”,  
“I will” replied Adrien making sure another argument was started that may attract an Akuma.

Red nodded and lead him to the tower opposite to Blue, Red hooked him into a harness while asking if he was comfortable with how tight it was and with a nod, they both climbed the tower. Once they were on the tower, Red explained that Blue would catch him and all he had to do was hold onto the bar tightly. 

Adrien jumped which like the reaction of Blue doing the same thing, made everyone hold their breaths until he swung safely to the other tower and Blue held him still on the platform.  
“Well done sunshine,” said Blue, smirking when realized what she had just said,  
“Mari,” he said quietly,  
“correct now let’s get you down” she replied as she walked him over to to the ladder.

As soon as he got down and out of the harness, Alix volunteered while he stood by Chloe.  
“Blue’s Mari” he whispered,  
“How did you come to that conclusion, we all know Dupain-Chang is trips over thin air” replied Chloe while watching Alix on the trapeze,   
“She called me sunshine which is a nickname Mari calls me and when asking she confirmed that she was, in fact, Marinette” Adrien answered.

“Well that explains her reaction yesterday” Chloe sighed as Kim went next,  
“Yes, what do you think is going to happen today?” Adrien asked,   
“I wouldn’t be surprised that they will say something at the show tonight instead of now so that no one else tries to claim that they are Blue Bird or Red Sparrow” answered Chloe, “I suggest we leave this new info to ourselves since the circus already seems to know about Lila’s lies with how most of them didn’t greet the class happily today”,  
“Fine” Adrien replied as they continued to watch each member of the class had a go on the trapeze.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, for the wait, my time was taken up by my collage work, exams, me being tired and having no motivation for the past week but I hope you enjoyed this chapter even if it was small.


	6. Bus Arguments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lila lies about how Red Sparrow and Blue Bird broke up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back.  
Sorry that this is short but I wanted to get a chapter out soon so you guys didn't have to wait too long.

“They are a bunch of stuck up, assholes” exclaimed Alya once they had all gotten back on the bus, Miss Bustier didn’t bother to tell her off and instead just put in earphones while she worked on some paperwork on her tablet. “Why were they so mean?” asked Rose, before the end of their lesson, which had gone on for three hours with a break for lunch, Lila had tried to claim she could do better tricks on the trapezz and when the class had begged her to show them, they were all quickly silenced by Red Sparrow who said “we cannot allow someone who we don’t even know the background of, to be allowed to do the tricks to they claim they can do as for all we know, they could be lying which could lead to serious injuries.''

When the class started to complain, Chloe quickly pointed out that “if she wanted to show us her skills, she should have brought a note by her parents confirming that she could do the tricks she said she could” and because of that the matter was quickly dropped as it was time for the class to go home.

“Red Sparrow has always been jealous of my talent, it’s not surprising she wouldn’t allow me to perform” responded Lila who was actually thankful she didn’t have to perform because she was pretty sure that she would have had a broken neck by the end.   
“I heard that Blue and Red used to date though” stated Rose,  
“We did but she cheated on me with a boy from America when we were performing there so it was a messy breakup and she hates me even if it was her who caused the problems” cried Lila as she turned on the waterworks. 

“I'm pretty sure that never happened” whispered Adrien, Chloe looked up from her phone with a blank expression,  
“It didn’t” Chloe replied,  
“How do you know?” asked Adrien,   
“I just texted Marinette what Lila just said and she confirmed there was no cheating whatsoever and that they broke up on good terms,” she answered, “also apparently she told Red what Lila just said and apparently Red is ready to murder Lila” which caused Adrien to snort,   
“I would be the same if some started making up lies like that about me” Adrien muttered as he rolled his eyes at the rest of the class who were all comforting Lila.

“Adrien and Chloe, don’t you care that Lila’s upset?” asked Alix who was glaring at them, “fuck no, I mean I wouldn’t comfort someone who is so jealous of someone that they had to lie about a relationship with her that they were never in and call them the bad guy” snapped Chloe picking at her nails as Lila cried harder.

“You bitch, how can you say that with no proof” yelled Alya,  
“Considering that Lila has lied about everything else, why should we believe this story?” asked Adrien glaring right back at them, his kindness with the class had become very thin since Marinette getting kicked out of school and them not believing that she hadn’t done anything that should have caused her to get kicked out since they believed Lila instead.  
“Adrien, why are you being so mean?” cried Lila while being comforted by Rose,   
“He wasn’t being mean, he was just stating simple fact” replied Chloe as the bus stopped and the bus door opened.

“Alright, student please be back at the school at 7:30 pm as the show will start 8:30 pm and we want to able to get good seat” stated Miss Bustier which effected ended the class argument. Both Adrien and Chloe got off the bus as quickly as possible spotting both Luka and Kagami waiting for them, “Marinette has gotten us both tickets for tonight’s performance so we will be joining you at the circus” Kagami said as the started to walk home. Both Chloe and Adrien looked at each other both thinking the same thing, “we had a feeling she would get you some” said Adrien,   
“And why is that?” asked Luka,   
“Because we just figured out she is Blue Bird and she confirmed it while teaching the class” answered Chloe.

“That explains her many trips to the gymnastics hall” stated Kagami with a smile,   
“Yep but I better be going,” said Adrien as Gorilla parked the car next to him and with that, they all said goodbye as they went to get ready for tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said in 'work hard get gold in return' update, I was ill for three days then had two days of recovery to which I then had to catch up on my photography course work which when that was done, I was burnt out for a while so sorry it took so long but I hope you enjoyed this chapter.


	7. Lights, Music, Reveal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the performance and while the performers are busy, Miss Bustier's Class are still listening with amazement to Lila's tall tales.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uccello - Bird in Italian (translation from https://www.thespruce.com/bird-in-different-languages-386824)

Like always on the closing night of the circus, everyone on busy, no one was taking a break especially not Marinette or Coraline. Even though it was a performance they had done many times, the tricks both girls performed for the closing act were always the most complex. While they had already done their basic act which was in the middle of the show, they still had only an hour till the last act so they were trying to remember everything to perfection. 

Marinette’s Uncle (who had already performed) was doing everything in his power to make them take a break as well as reminding them that they had been practising all week (Marinette didn’t tell Tiki why she was at the gymnastic centre all week, telling her it was a surprise) along with doing it all-day. 

Adrien, Chloe, Luka and Kagami luckily were able to sit away from Lila but was still next to them hearing every lie. “Apparently they are going to make an important announcement after the final act,” Rose said,  
“What do you think it will be?” questioned Alya,  
“Probably a warning on people who are claiming to be Blue Bird, I hate it when they do that” answered Lila causing Chloe, Adrien, Luka and Kagami to roll their eyes.

“Oh, the sweet sweet Irony” whispered Kagami making Adrien and Chloe snicker,   
“I just got a text from Mari, apparently the final going to start after this” Luka said looking up from his phone,  
“From what my father has told me, it’s the best part of the final night because the performers go all out” Adrien stated,   
“How does he know that?” asked Chloe,  
“He went with my mother before she died while they were on holiday and I had to stay in Paris” explained Adrien his tone going quieter when he mentioned his mother.

Just then the lights turn off, scaring parts of the audience, and a single spotlight turned on to show the RingMaster. “Now, I know you have all found night very exciting but it’s not over just yet” stated Mr River, “as it is our final night in Paris, there is one act that we always perform that people don’t get to see until the final night” these word got cheers from the audience, “now I know you will all recognize the song but I must ask that you don’t sing it as to us the performers, it may distract us so please reframe from sing along as much as we would love you too” and with that, the spotlight turned off and the music started.

The song turned out to be ‘welcome to the show’ from the greatest showman which of course may the audience excited. The performances that arrived first were the animal tamers and ground gymnasts. It was after the first chores did it get really exciting. When the ringmaster had been talking, Luka had been sent a text to look up so when the first chores had finished he was able to see both Blue Bird and Red Sparrow running opposite ways on a platforms around the top of the tent when pointing it to Chloe, Adrien and Kagami, they were just in time to see both of the girls jump off the platforms and start to swing across the ring.  
They did complex manoeuvres through the rest of the song both resting on one single ring that hung in the middle of the ring as they sang the last lines of the song. 

The crowd burst into cheers as the performers bowed or where helped of platforms and the backs of animals. The cheering stopped when the performers left expect for Red Sparrow and Blue Bird, an elephant was left in order to make a noise loud enough for the audience to stop taking. “Now, as many of you have heard, we are making an announcement tonight as recently there have been people claiming to be Blue Bird and when asking why they are watching tonight instead of performing, they claim that tonight Blue Bird has been being performed by a stand-in which I will say now that the girl who has been performing tonight has been her since she was eight in order to spend time with her uncle who is one of our best strongmen” stated Mr Rivers which caused gasped from the audience along with Miss Bustier’s class to look at Lila whose blood drain from her face.

“We wanted to stay quiet about who we are until we turned eighteen but since this person has also told false facts about me and Blue Bird’s past romantic relationship, I decide enough is enough,” said Red Sparrow, showing a young girl with dark brown eyes that look black and tanned skin that was caked in makeup for the show, “My name is Coraline Uccello”. 

Of course, as soon as she said this, there were flashing of cameras along with cheers. Again the elephant had to get the audience attention as Blue Bird started to speak, “I was not a fan of revealing my identity tonight but as I know the lier personal, a person who has been lying through her teeth in order to make me look bad and is now claiming to be the one how has worked hard to get the reputation I have in the circus community, I decided enough was enough” as she said this and started to remove her mask, Lila look like a ghost, “My name is Marinette Dupain-Chang and I hope you all enjoyed tonight”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoped you enjoyed this chapter, just to make it clear that I can't really write science with complex moves such as a circus performance bust I tried my best.


	8. The Truth Is Hard to Hear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The class just realised they were lied to and have no idea what to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The class's thoughts over the weekend.

The fallout didn’t happen that night as you might think because as soon as Lila got out of the tent, she bolted to her mother’s car who had arrived to pick her up that night because she was going to visit her relatives and for once in her life, that was not a lie. 

Most of the class were either in tears or looked ready to murder someone. Alya was stubbornly wanting to go yell at Marinette for lying as she still believed that Lila was telling the truth and Marinette had just stolen Lila reputation as Blue Bird that she had earned unlike Marinette who was so clumsy that she would regularly trip over air but when she got home and had time to think over tonight’s reveal and what has happened for the past few months while hanging with Lila, she realised Marinette never had lied, Jagged had always had Fang the crocodile and that napkin would never have even hurt Max because it was thin paper and he was wearing glasses. She scoured the internet for any truth in what Lila said but she only found info from her blog, she compares old footage of Blue Bird and her footage that she had taken tonight to put on her blog, finding similarities each person performing the acts.

Alya spent the night crying hot tears as she deleted each article and video that told of Lila’s lies, she was lucky that she had said Lila was Blue Bird because if she had, she was sure that blog would have been ripped to shreds. Alya briefly wonders why an Akuma hadn’t come for her yet but unbeknownst to her, Gabriel was out of the country on a business trip so there would be no Akums for a while.

As for the rest of the class, they had also spent the night looking for any proof that hadn’t been lying to them all this time but only found Lady Blog Articles which were gone by midnight. They thought about the times they had listened to Lila’s lies and realised how stupid and flimsy they were, how no of them bothered to fact check.

That’s when it hit them, what about Marinette and Adrien? First, they had isolated Marinette because she dare say Lila was lying, she was expelled when it found that she had stolen answers even though she had always studied, Lila probably planted the necklace since the lockers were insanely easy to break into and Lila probably faked being pushed down the stairs. After Marinette was let back into the school, they continued to give her the cold shoulder believing she had been jealous about Lila and Adrien even though she helps with a double date when he went out with Kagami and what about Adrien? They had given him the cold shoulder as well when he started to say that Lila was lying, they believed that he had been manipulated by Marinette and he was a lost cause because come she was now hanging around Chloe who was the class bully what were they supposed to think. 

They now knew that they were in the wrong and they had to fix this mess. Alya had posted a video explaining why she took down so many videos and articles as well as that she was sorry that she fed her viewers lies, the class then tried text, calling or even going around to both Marinette and Adrien’s houses but they never saw either of them. They saw on Adrien, Marinette, Chloe and Luka’s Instagrams that they were helping the circus pack up, all weekend. 

As Miss Bustier arrived home, after making sure every child got home safely, she looked into Lila’s profile and found nothing to confirm the medical claims that Lila had made as well as the fact that Lila’s mother signage looked very similar to Lila’s own. She tired the numbers the next day and got no result. She looked into Lila’s claims of going abroad but all public records show that her family had not gone on any trips.

Thinking back to the time Marinette had been expelled, she realised several inconstancies, Marinette left with Alya the day before the exam, so she couldn’t have stolen the test answers without Alya knowing, the necklace could have been planted since those lockers are easy to get into without the lock combination and Lila had no injuries after Marinette ‘pushed’ her down the stairs, not a single scrape. Both she and Mr Damocles didn’t even check the security cameras to see if what Lila was saying, had any proof, they use took her word and expelled Marinette. They hadn’t even called in Lila’s mother when Marinette had been brought back to school and Lila made the claim that she had a lying disease, that is one of the worst excuses since the ‘dog ate my homework’ excuse and they were idiotically gullible for falling for it. As soon as she could, she contacted Mr Damocles on her findings and both agreed that this would be dealt with, first thing on Monday.

The overall thought of the class that weekend was what they were going to Lila and how the hell were they going to apologies to Marinette.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> boom another chapter done in two days


	9. Family, Press, Texts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien and Marinette's view of the weekend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost done.

Marinette and her friends had a great weekend, after the show Adrien, Chloe, Kagami and Luka all got to stay behind to meet the performers although both Adrien and Chloe had to get permission off Miss Bustier which of course got Alya shouting at them which they ignored as they informed miss Bustier that their parents had already agreed for them to stay so she let them even if she looked like she was close to refusing, they had already run off following Mr Rivers the ringmaster around back so that they didn’t have to deal with the press.

“If you’re looking for Mari, she’s in our trailer,” said Red Sparrow now unmasked as Coraline Uccello, “Thank you” replied Kagami as she leads the group to the trailer. Opening it they could see that Marinette was staring at her phone with a blank look while sitting on her bed with Tiki who was busy eating cookies, “you ok there Mari” asked Adrien as the door closed and they sat either on her bed or Coraline,  
“She’s reading the news” answered Tiki,  
“What the hell” exclaimed Marinette making the group of friends jump except for Coraline who just raised an eyebrow.

“What is it?” asked Luka, “The press has already started to try and get into the bakery” as soon as she said that both Chloe and Adrien had their phones out and step out to go talk to the person that had each called.   
“What are they doing?” Marinette asked both Kagami and Luka shrugged,  
“That doesn’t matter right now, what’s important is how are you feeling?” asked Kagami,  
“Uhh..not sure, I mean I knew the press was going to go nuts but I hope it dies down soon or I’m worried someone might catch me as ladybug” responded Marinette with a frown,  
“I will not worry, you have not only us but I’m sure the circus will help with the issue” Luka replied calmly putting a hand on her shoulder as comfort.

“Damn right we will, I don’t think were could stop your uncle from hurting them, if he found out you were being harassed” snorted Coraline which made Marinette smile as both Chloe and Adrien came back in.  
“Gorilla has agreed to help protect your parents” Adrien stated with a grin, clearly glad that he had managed to persuade his father to let him do so,  
“And father has agreed to also give protection for your family by making sure the police scare them away,” Chloe said,  
“Thank you” replied Marinette hugging both of them,  
“now then are you going to introduce us to your circus family or not,” asked Kagami.

Everyone in the circus was glad to meet Marinette teammates while making sure to give pointers on different moves they could use on an Akuma which surprised all of them except Marinette who just laughed and said, “if they figured out I was Ladybug, it wasn’t going to be long before they figured you guys out”. After that, they all spent the weekend going to and from the circus site to help pack up, as Marinette said goodbye she was pulled into a group hug by the whole circus and was told to say in contact.

By the time Marinette was going to bed, she finally decided to check the texts she had got from her classmates, they had all seemed to realise how much Lila lied about, Alya going so far to purge her website from any mention of her and publicly stating in a video on how she just found out Lila was a lier and apologised for giving her audience false information.

The rest of the class were sending texts about how sorry they were and that they will try to do better but that wasn’t going to cut it for Marinette, I mean come on they had isolated from the class for months while still demanding food from the bakery for free when a school event was happening or asking for new outfits for free which she all but ignored which made them isolate her further so to hell with them if they think she will forgive them that easily.

The same thought process was happening with Adrien who was also getting texts from his classmates but he didn’t bother to read them instead watching the news reports about the big reveal and talking with Nathalie about how he could help Marinette’s from being hounded by the press which turned out to be the Circus making announcement that if the find out the press has been hounding Marinette, they are quite happy to sue the reporters for doing so along with both Chloe and Adrien’s family making a statement that they would do the same thing so by Monday it had quieted down.

Luckily Chloe and Adrien had made it before the class but sadly Marinette had overslept so was late. The class had arrived at the bell so they couldn’t talk to the group yet. Miss Bustier arrived look tired, she was followed by Lila who gave a cheery smile and took her seat next to Alya who along with the rest of the class gave her death glares.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm glad that everyone has enjoyed this story so far and I hope you like this chapter.


	10. Pay Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the final chapter in this story and I hope you enjoy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that you guys this conclusion, as well as, I hope that it doesn't sound rushed since I wanted to complete this before the new year.  
Also, I forgot I made Hawkmoth go on a business trip so let's just say he came back late Sunday night knowing that the Lila being revealed was surely going to make a lot of Akumas.

It was ten minutes into the lessons when Lila decided to speak, “Miss Bustier where is Marinette?” she asked which cause everyone to look towards to Chloe and Adrien, “she overslept and if you lot haven’t realised still dodging the reports who aren’t afraid to get sued” replied Chloe before Miss Bustier could continue there was a knock on the window.

As the class look towards the back window, they could see Marinette hanging on the steel drain pipe, Chloe quickly went to open the window. As she opened it, Marinette crawled into through the window, “Marinette, what is the meaning with this?” asked Miss Bustier, “press were at the front door, couldn’t get through” Marinette replied sliding into her seat. 

“You mean the press that should be there for me not you” snapped Lila,  
“what?” asked Marinette,  
“I’m Blue Bird but because you’re so jealous, you just had to claim that you were me and take over the perform, I allowed Cleo to do” retorted Lila,  
“You mean Cleo the fire eater” stated Chloe raising an eyebrow,  
“No, Cleo’s the backup performer” replied Lila, the class started at the girls,  
“No, Cleo Rouge the Fire Eater who is twenty-five which is much older than Marinette or you” replied Adrien coldly.

At this point, the whole class was too distracted by the argument to notice Miss Bustier had slipped out. “Stop lying, I think I would know who works at the circus since I’m Blue Bird, not Marinette” growled Lila,  
“All right, that’s it can you shut the fuck up with your lies, no one is buying it anymore” shouted Marinette making the class gasp since Marinette was not known to lose her temper enough that she would swear.

“I’m sick and tired of you trying to claim, my accomplishments as your own, I’m the one who spent of most of my life work night and day to get as good as I had at trapeze along with the rest of the things I do for my ariel performance”, Lila just cried crocodile tears as the class glared at her just now realising that Lila had not only been lying but taking credit for something she had never done.  
“I never lied” Lila sobbed looking at the class for sympathy but no one gave her any,  
“yes, you have Lila we all fact check everything over the weekend and you would know that since I have already taken every lie you told me off my blog” snapped Alya clutching her phone in anger, “you lied about everything from saving Jagged Stone’s cat to being Ladybugs best friend”,  
“I’ve texted Prince Ali and he said he’s never heard of you” continued Rose who looked ready to burst into tears as Juleka held her.

“You lied about everything” cried Nino,  
“I may have exaggerated about the celebrities but not about Ladybug,” Lila said looking panicked, it was clear that she wasn’t prepared for the class to actually fact check her,  
“That’s a lie” replied Chloe,  
“And why should they believe what you say” responded Lila glaring,  
“for one Ladybug actually talks to me since I’m the mayor’s daughter meaning I can pass along a message from Ladybug to him and to I asked after a week of you spouting you lies and she says the only way she knows you are because of the number of times you have been akumatized” Chloe answered smirking as Lila gaped, trying to think a way out of this mess.

“You lied, caused us to isolate Chloe, Adrien and Marinette because we thought you were telling the truth but instead they were just trying to protect us and we didn’t listen” snapped Max,  
“Well it’s not my fault, you all are too stupid to fact check” retorted Lila clearly realising that no one was buying her lies anymore,  
“Miss Rossi, headmaster’s office now,” said Mrs Mendeleiev entering the room cutting of Alya who looked like she was ready to strangle,  
“What why?” exclaimed Lila,  
“Because Miss Rossi, your teacher finally decided to do a background check on your claims, you have made and surprise surprise, they turned out to not be true, now if you will follow me to the-” Mrs Mendeleiev was cut off by Adrien.

“AKUMA” he shouted making everyone back away from Lila quickly while both Marinette and Chloe took action, Chloe leaping over to Lila and making both fall onto the floor with Lila being covered by Chloe. Marinette instead caught the Akuma.

“Princess Justice, we meet again, if you follow me, I can get you the revenge on the Lier that made your life hell” spoke Hawkmoth while everyone held their breath waiting to see if Marinette was going to accept,  
“Piss off old man, the lier is already getting what’s coming to her so how about you take your deal and shove it up your ass” snapped Marinette and with that, the butterfly quickly left as the room silence was broken laughing quickly joined by Chloe.  
“Well said Mari” said Chloe as Adrien tried to calm himself down.

“Well as much as I’m proud of you Miss Dupain Cheng for refusing Hawkmoth, next time keep it PG” stated Miss Mendeleiev, “and Miss Rossi since you haven’t become an Akuma, please follow me”, Lila was still picking herself off the floor when she started to protest.  
“Lila please just listen to Miss Mendeleieve so you don’t get into more trouble than you already are,” said Miss Bustier who looked far from her normal cheery personality as she looked more worn down by the events happening in front of her. 

Lila looked around and seeing that she wouldn’t get any help from the class, she left quietly. “Class please complete these worksheets while I go help the headmaster explain to her Lila’s mother on what she has been claiming” and with that Miss Bustier had left. Chloe, Adrien and Marinette went back to the seats and quietly worked on the sheets with the other classmates following them. 

The silence lasted for about five minutes until Alya broke, “We’re sorry” she exclaimed with other members of the class nodding in agreement,  
“sorry about what?” questioned Chloe putting down her pen,  
“We’re sorry for not believing you,” said Nino,  
“We’re sorry for not fact-checking” continued Alya,  
“And we’re so for excluding you from the class” finished Rose who looked close to tears,  
“And?” asked Marinette raising an eyebrow,  
“And you forgive us?” replied Mylene.

“You do realise just saying sorry doesn’t mean we forgive you right” question Adrien,  
“You haven’t shown you’re actually sorry and removing Lila’s lies from you blog doesn’t earn you my trust back Alya instead to me it just shows that you’re trying to escape from backlash when people find out that you have been posting lies,” said Marinette,  
“But-” started Alya but was cut off by Adrien,  
“Quite frankly at this point you can give up on thinking we’re all friends again especially since you isolated us for months” he snapped,  
“If you want our friendship or more importantly our trust back, you’re going to have to earn and you can start doing that by leaving us alone” continued Marinette.

Alya and the class wanted to argue, to try and say that they were being unfair but they new at this point, if they wanted to gain any ounce of that trust back they should probably just listen and do what Marinette said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've finally finished my first fanfiction, I just wanted to say thank you for all the support and that I was not expecting this to get as big as it did but I'm glad that people enjoyed this au that I created.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing fanfic so I'm sorry if I get the character's personalities wrong, it's just that I'm used to writing my own stories with my own characters


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